Why Your Game Needs a Custom Currency Label in Scratch and Exactly How to Build It

You've spent hours coding the perfect shop. Your sprites look crisp, the clicker mechanic is addictive, and the "Buy" button finally works without crashing the whole project. But then you look at the top of the screen. There it is. That clunky, orange, default variable box staring back at you. It looks like a spreadsheet from 1998. It totally kills the vibe of your medieval RPG or your neon-soaked space tycoon. Honestly, if you want your project to feel like a real game, you’ve got to ditch the defaults. Learning how to make a custom currency label in Scratch is basically the "hello world" of game polish.

Scratch variables are functional, sure. They do the math. But they don't have style. They don't have icons. You can’t change the font to look like 8-bit gold or futuristic credits. To get that polished look, you have to stop thinking about "variables" as just numbers and start thinking about them as "costumes." It sounds complicated, but it's really just a clever loop and some cloning.

The Problem With the Default Variable Monitor

Most people start with the "large readout" and call it a day. It’s fine for a prototype. But if you're aiming for the Front Page or a curated studio, those default boxes are a red flag. They scream "I'm a beginner." Real game designers like Griffpatch—who is basically the king of Scratch tutorials—constantly emphasize that UI (User Interface) is just as important as the engine itself.

When you use the default monitor, you’re stuck with that specific shade of orange. You can't put a gold coin icon next to it. You can't make the numbers pulse when the player earns money. Worst of all, you can't control the layering perfectly if you have complex parallax backgrounds. By creating a custom label, you regain total control over the visual hierarchy of your project.

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How to Make a Custom Currency Label in Scratch Using Clones

The most common way to do this is with "Text Engines." Don't let the name scare you. It’s just a sprite that has costumes for every number (0-9) and maybe a few symbols like a dollar sign or a coin icon.

First, you need a sprite. Name it "Money Display." Inside this sprite, you're going to create ten costumes. One for each digit. Name them exactly "0", "1", "2", and so on. This is crucial because Scratch lets you switch costumes by name using a variable, which saves you a massive amount of "if-then" blocks. If your costume is named "5" and your variable is 5, you just tell the sprite to switch costume to (variable). Easy.

The Logic of the Loop

You need a script that clears the old display and draws the new one every time the money value changes. You’ll use a "Run without screen refresh" custom block for this. If you don't check that box, your money will flicker like a dying lightbulb, and nobody wants that.

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Inside that custom block, you’ll start by deleting all clones. Then, you’ll set a "temp" variable to 1. This variable tracks which digit of your money you’re currently drawing. You’ll use a "repeat (length of money variable)" loop. Inside that loop, you tell the sprite to switch to the costume that matches the digit at the "temp" position of your money string. Then, you create a clone, move the sprite a few pixels to the right, and change "temp" by 1.

Handling Large Numbers and Scientific Notation

Here is where things get annoying. Scratch has a weird habit of turning very large numbers into scientific notation. If your player hits 1,000,000,000, Scratch might try to display it as "1e+9." Your custom label will break because you don't have a costume named "e" or "+."

To fix this, you have to "join" your money variable with an empty string or use a specific rounding technique to keep it as a standard integer. Many advanced Scratchers use a "format number" script. This script checks if the number is over a thousand and adds a "K," or over a million and adds an "M." It makes the UI look much cleaner. Imagine seeing "1.2M" instead of a string of zeros that stretches off the edge of the stage.

Why Some People Prefer the Pen Extension

Clones are great, but Scratch has a 300-clone limit. If you have a lot of numbers on screen—like damage pop-ups, a timer, and your currency—you might hit that limit faster than you think. That's when you look into the Pen extension.

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The Pen method works similarly to the clone method, but instead of "create clone," you use the "stamp" block. It’s faster and doesn't eat up your clone count. The downside? You can't easily animate individual digits. With clones, you can make the "5" bounce when a player buys something. With Pen, it’s just a flat image on the background. Pick your poison. Most people starting out with a how to make a custom currency label in Scratch project should stick to clones. They’re more intuitive.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Center your costumes. If your "1" costume is off-center compared to your "8" costume, your money will look like it’s dancing while the player is just standing still. Always use the "snapping" feature in the Scratch costume editor to hit the dead center.
2. Spacing. Don't just move the sprite "20 steps." Different numbers have different widths. A "1" is thinner than a "0." If you want it to look professional, you need a "variable spacing" system, but for 90% of games, a fixed grid is fine.
3. Layering. Make sure your "Money Display" sprite is always at the front. Use a "go to front layer" block inside your main loop. Nothing is more annoying than a player walking "on top" of their own money.

Real World Example: The Tycoon Style

Look at games like Mining Simulator or Pizza Factory on Scratch. They don't use boring text. They use bright, bold, 3D-looking numbers. You can do this by drawing your costumes in a vector program like Inkscape or even just the Scratch vector editor. Add a slight drop shadow. Use a gradient. If your currency is "Gems," make the numbers purple and sparkly.

The "vibe" of your currency label tells the player what kind of game they are playing. A survival game might have scratched, bloody numbers. A sci-fi game should have glowing blue ones. This is the stuff that makes a game "feel" high quality.

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Create a sprite named "Digits."
2. Create 10 costumes, named "0" through "9."
3. Make a variable called Total_Money.
4. Create a custom block RefreshDisplay and check Run without screen refresh.
5. In RefreshDisplay:
   • Delete all clones.
   • Go to the starting X and Y coordinates (e.g., -200, 150).
   • Set a local variable i to 1.
   • Repeat length of (Total_Money):
     • Switch costume to letter (i) of (Total_Money).
     • Create clone of myself.
     • Change X by 15 (or whatever width your font is).
     • Change i by 1.
6. Put RefreshDisplay inside a "Forever" loop or, better yet, a "When I Receive [Update Money]" broadcast.

The Actionable Path Forward

Don't just stop at numbers. Once you've mastered the basic label, try adding a "prefix" icon. Create a costume in the same sprite that is a gold coin. Make your loop start by stamping or cloning that coin first, then the numbers. It links the value to the item instantly in the player's mind.

Next, look into "lerping" or interpolation. Instead of the money jumping from 100 to 500 instantly, you can make the Display_Money variable "chase" the Actual_Money variable. It creates a counting-up effect that feels incredibly satisfying to watch. This tiny bit of "juice" is what separates a project from a polished experience.

Go open a new Scratch project right now. Don't worry about the game mechanics yet. Just get a custom font working. Once you see those stylized numbers on your stage, you'll never go back to the default orange boxes again.